One camera produces millions of bytes of data every single frame, an ultrasonic sensor is useful producing just 1 or 2 bytes of data in the same time span. (distance to something within the sensor's cone).

So it seems like a totally ridiculous argument that ultrasonic sensors create some kind of data processing overload.

An ultrasonic sensor makes it possible to implement incredibly simple and reliable safety features with well known performance characteristics. Processing an image with ML to produce the same effect has tons of edge cases where it might not work, and nobody knows when it won't work, and every update to the system could introduce regressions.

It's why they had to disable certain features when they got rid of the ultrasonic sensors. Those features may come back some day, but I bet they'll never be as reliable, and certainly won't be as predictable.

https://www.pcmag.com/news/tesla-removes-ultrasonic-sensors-...