I agree, but I don’t think the eye can adapt beyond its inherent dynamic range over a matter of milliseconds - the iris is not opening or closing over that time

I agree, but I don’t think the eye can adapt beyond its inherent dynamic range over a matter of milliseconds - the iris is not opening or closing over that timescale, so you’re relying on the inherent dynamic range of the retina (which is pretty good). What the eye IS doing is some kind of HDR processing, which is much better than the gamma and levels applied to that video. I bet a professional colorist could grade that footage to make it a much better reflection of what the driver could see in the shadows - even with a crappy camera, you can usually pull out quite a bit of shadow detail.