This isn't entirely true. Photogrammetric methods that measure depth from stereo-imagery can and often are more "certain, redundant" and precise when the networ

This isn't entirely true. Photogrammetric methods that measure depth from stereo-imagery can and often are more "certain, redundant" and precise when the network is structured correctly. What LiDAR offers here is an easy way to get 3D data quickly without a large computational overhead, and no dependency on camera position. It also means we don't have to solve the correspondence problem, that is, finding the same point on two objects between two images. But LiDAR isn't necessarily enough either. A lot of scanners end up being very noisy, or have a limited range, whereas cameras are good as long as there's line of sight. Using the two technologies together makes a whole lot more sense than just using one or the other. Disclaimer: I am a graduate student who works with LiDAR, photogrammetry, and 3D imaging technologies.