Google tests AI app to help vision-impaired people run unassisted

Google is testing a new app that will allow blind people to run on their own without a guide dog or human assistant. Project Guideline uses a phone's camera to track a guideline on a course and then sends audio cues to the user via bone-conducting headphones. If the runner strays too far from the center, the sound will get louder on whichever side they're favoring. Still in the prototype phase, Project Guideline was developed at a Google hackathon last year when a blind runner asked developers to design a program that would allow him to jog independently. The app uses a phone's camera to track a painted line and then sends audio cues via bone-conducting headphones if a runner strays too far to the left or right Thomas Panek, CEO of Guiding Eyes for the Blind, began losing his vision when he was just 8 years old and was legally blind by the time he was a teenager.