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In its push to grow beyond its San Francisco roots, ride-sharing service SideCar has reportedly purchased Austin, Texas-based competitor Heyride, according to an AllThingsD report published today.

The acquisition probably has something to do with the SXSW conference that’s held in Austin every year in early March. And as a new resident of this fair city, I can attest to its horrible traffic congestion during the morning and evening rush, which will undoubtedly be worse with an enormous event happening. That said, ride sharing services will likely see plenty of use during SXSW.

Much like SideCar, Heyride is an iPhone app that searches your immediate area for people who are available to transport you around town for a fee. That fee is determined prior to someone picking you up, and the transaction is done entirely over your smartphone, which eliminates awkward situations that involve breaking large bills or being surprised that the driver doesn’t have a credit card machine. You’re able to track your ride using the smartphone’s GPS and rate drivers once you’ve been dropped off.

Buying Heyride is a smart move for SideCar. Not only will it gain Heyride’s local user base, but it’ll also put the spotlight on SideCar and potentially take attention away from rival ride sharing service Lyft.

We’ve reached out to SideCar for more details about the acquisition as well as its plans for SXSW. And as always, we’ll update this post with any new information.

Founded in 2012, the San Francisco-based SideCar raised a $10 million round of funding back in October from Lightspeed Venture Partners and Google Ventures. Since launching last year, the startup has facilitated over 50,000 rides and grown a community of hundreds of drivers and thousands of passengers.

Carpooling or ride sharing can be a great way to save gas, time and money. Current web services tend to need a period of time to plan and arrange pick-ups, drop-offs and payments. Looking to bring the process to real-time, Flinc today announced the official launch of its mobile ride sharing system.

The company claims to give users the ability to use their mobile phones through a special application that connects with GPS navigation systems in vehicles to arrange a pick-up in real-time. A user opening the Flinc application enters their current position, which is then matched to the closest networked car that has an open seat. If the driver agrees to pick up the rider, payment is automatically transferred and the vehicles GPS navigation system updates to the riders current position.

Current carpooling and ride share services are limited to web-based websites or communities that revolve around longer term planned agreements between drivers and those looking for a seat. Sites like eRideshare.com and RideShareOnline.com, gives users the ability to visit their sites and sign-up to look for drivers in their area or on their ideal routes to secure a seat. The advantage of Flinc is the ability to find a ride in real-time from your mobile phone while out and about.

The German-based company, founded in 2009, has to date receieved seed funding from friends and family.

flinc IFA Trailer 2009 (english) from flinc on Vimeo.