Car jacking is a modern day term and what we think of as a modern day crime, but it is really just an old crime of stealing from someone traveling down the road. One can imagine highway men in the old west, going after stage coaches, but news reports from the 1920's, show that highway related robberies were still taking place then.
Here is a report from the August 15, 1921 edition of The Oakland Tribune:
Joseph Bedia, charged with highway robbery, pleaded not guilty when arraigned before Superior Court Judge Lincoln S. Church today and his trial was set for September 28th. In default of bail he was sent back to jail. Bedia is accused of luring James De Baca of San Francisco into his automobile on the Alvarado Road on the night of July 11th, using a pretty girl as bait. After taking De Baca to a secluded spot, it is alleged that Bedia and his female companion set upon their victim, taking a watch and $300 cash from him. Then threw his unconscious body out on the road.
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Another is this report from the November 24, 1924 edition of The Oakland Tribune:
Three shots were fired at C. E. Allen of Oakland by four bandits who attempted to hold him up on the highway near Alvarado early last night. Allen said he was driving a truck toward Oakland when he saw an automobile drawn up across the highway, apparently placed there to force him to stop. Four men gathered beside the road and called on him to stop. Instead, Allen said, he increased the speed of his truck and passed the blockading automobile. Three shots were fired at him, but the bandits did not try to pursue him.