Car-pooling app Hitch has been acquired by Lyft

Car-sharing service Lyft has acquired Hitch, a startup in the mobile app-enabled car-pooling business, to integrate the service with its own shared rides business that it set up last month. “Similar to Lyft, Hitch has always believed the shared rides experience is inherently social, and we’re excited that they’re joining the team to accelerate this movement together,” Lyft wrote in a blog post Monday. The financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.

Lyft has picked up a startup that should accelerate its carpooling efforts. Lyft announced late Monday that it has acquired Hitch, a small San Francisco startup, to help with the development and expansion of Lyft Line, its recently launched carpool service. Terms of the deal were not immediately disclosed. Hitch’s two-person team developed an iOS app that promised to save money on Uber and Lyft rides by simplifying the process of splitting rides with strangers traveling on the same route. It also provided features that help you learn more about the strangers in your car. “Hitch was one of the early pioneers of the shared ride idea in San Francisco,” Chris Lambert, CTO at Lyft, told Mashable. “They really had the same long-term vision that we did. They’ve built a product and technology and approach to shared rides that we think will work well in other markets.”