In my country they use vans like a Mercedes Sprinter because you can actually keep your stuff dry and even make a little workshop in there. The only use I can think of for a pickup truck is maybe gardeners so they don’t have to haul a trailer for their green waste? Could also maybe be useful to haul strawbales if you have a small farm. But you can just do that in a trailer behind your van as well, and your equipment will be dry inside the van and you can leave the trailer when you don’t need it.

Backup cameras became required by law in 2016

That must be local to you, my 2019 car doesn’t have one and in my (European) country this is not mandatory.

Seems easy to solve: close the door so they can’t wake you up anymore! With no opposable thumbs they won’t be able to open the door either.

… Is your roommate a cat? Why are you making food for them and why are they waking you up to do this?