The title might be a bit misleading... from the videos, it doesn't look like there's any "swiping" of the device (unless by "swipe", you mean "steal", in which case I stand corrected). I wouldn't be surprised to see that they're all bluetooth-enabled cars, I believe there are some known exploits in that area.
I hope the device in Texas is positively identified, I want to see how exactly the car thieves do it.