

There is overhead but Vulkan allows you to batch draw calls in a far more efficient manner. It can also generally use multi threading to feed a GPU even if the game isn’t coded with that in mind. Basically Vulkan offers so many improvements to efficiency and parallelization that the overhead is a drop in the bucket compared to the overall speedup in draw call optimization alone.
Vapor deposited metal film. Expensive, but I wouldn’t be surprised if they already use exactly that to handle interference from the sun. Even non-coherent light can wash the sensors out if you have enough of it.