Spoiler alert: they can't be used to replace your smartphone's camera lenses yet, but can be used for IR distance sensors used on drones and soon, polarization sensors that will be able to tell materials apart and even detect cracks in concrete.
Video of Gavin Smith explaining polarization with a neat mechanical/visual demonstration: https://youtu.be/9SAzxlF57mc?feature=shared&t=128
Not sure if he ever made the camera.
An AI that calls us “daddy”
That can’t possibly go wrong. Nope.
Ignoring the rest...
I feel like this would be much easier to accomplish with acoustic sensors and wheel/suspension telemetry, given that an attentive human driver can sort of "feel" the road surface already.