Ford's autonomous cars have a super power humans don't possess: The ability to see in the dark.

The automaker on Monday revealed that it has been testing its Fusion Hybrid autonomous research vehicles at night, in complete darkness. The cars are equipped with LiDAR technology and 3D maps, which work together to allow the vehicles to drive without headlights.

Ford recently tested the capability at its "Proving Ground" in Arizona, challenging one of its research vehicles to navigate pitch black desert roads with no headlights — a task that would be pretty much impossible, not to mention super dangerous, for a human driver. Even without cameras, which rely on light, the LiDAR technology — working with the car's virtual driver software — proved capable of steering "flawlessly" around windy roads.

LiDAR (or Light Detection And Ranging) technology senses the shape, motion, and makeup of objects in the environment. Already used for airborne mapping and a variety of other disciplines, the technology works by transmitting laser signals using all light ranges (ultraviolet, visible, infrared) and amplifying the light that is scattered back through an optical telescope and photomultiplier tube.

Ford said its LiDAR sensors can shoot out 2.8 million laser pulses per second to "precisely scan the surrounding environment."

"Thanks to LiDAR, the test cars aren't reliant on the sun shining, nor cameras detecting painted white lines on the asphalt," Ford's Technical Leader for autonomous vehicles Jim McBride said in a statement. "In fact, LiDAR allows autonomous cars to drive just as well in the dark as they do in the light of day."

It's ideal for an autonomous vehicle to have three modes of sensors — radar, cameras, and LiDAR — but this test proves LiDAR technology alone "can function independently on roads without stoplights," Ford said. To drive in the dark, Ford's research vehicles rely on high-resolution 3D maps, which boast all kinds of information about the road like lane markings, geography, topography, as well as the locations of signs, buildings, and trees. The car then uses LiDAR pulses to pinpoint itself on the map in real time. Additional data from radar is combined with that of LiDAR to round out the autonomous vehicle's sensing capability.

Ford said these tests mark the "next step" in its journey to deliver fully autonomous vehicles. The company plans to triple its autonomous vehicle test fleet this year, bringing about 30 self-driving Hybrid sedans to roads in California, Arizona and Michigan.