This is the real answer. The top comments with 20x the upvotes are literally just jokes about social media sentiment with 0 actual truth to them. Always a wake up call to see reddit talk about something you are actually knowledgeable about. Good reminder how much this website is just bullshit, sentiment, and conjecture.

I work in the industry. It’s non-trivial effort involving hardware and firmware engineers. Apple and Google employ thousands of the most highly paid engineers in the world in order to make a new phone every year. Automotive companies are barely keeping up with version control, let alone the latest and greatest camera hardware. Some companies are better than others of course and luxury brand will be more willing to invest in technology.

Another point I don’t see mentioned yet this high up the comment section: It’s a safety feature, therefore it’s likely regulated. Your iPhone is a retail consumer good and does not need to meet the same regulator requirements. QA and certification is a big deal depending on the use case or your hardware/firmware. I’ve worked on projects that were stuck in the certification whirlpool for years.