Schmidt maps out Google's vision for search

Google's chief executive has been outlining the company's ideas on the future of search technology.

Eric Schmidt told delegates at the TechCrunch Disrupt conference in San Francisco that the industry is at an inflection point, and that the very concept of search will change from something people request to something computers suggest.

"We are at one of those points in technology where something interesting is about to happen," he said.

"We're building an augmented version of humanity, getting computers to help us do the things we are not very good at and have humans helping computers do the things they're not very good at."

Schmidt outlined a future search technology in which computers will suggest useful information based on past preferences, the location of the user, the time of day and whether any friends are nearby.

He suggested that cars will be able to navigate without the driver's intervention, and that human control of vehicles is a "bug in the system".

In the long term Google expects the majority of search requests to come from mobile devices, and Schmidt pointed to the growth in the use of Android, particularly for voice searches.

"Eventually we think mobile will be the majority of the searches and the majority of the revenue, but it's a long time," he said.