I think maybe someone dazzled you with some excessive jargon. Extracting point clouds from stereoscopic cameras isn't a Tesla invention, even though they've invested a lot into trying to make theirs work. This is some computer vision 101 stuff, but nobody calls it "converting photons".
> Essentially, once they crack all the quirks, I am now a firm beleiver
Well obviously if they solve all of the problems then we'd all be believers too.