I have also done a similar project to what Jeff explained.
Parallax has a robot kit which you can use sensors as input devices to detect walls and stuff. The Parallax kits include BASIC STAMP which lets you basically do almost anything.... some of the programming is a bit limited compared to normal PIC programming.
My end of things the programming is the toughest part... but i recently just started learning how to code and I don't know everything there is to know.
Sounds like you have a cool project man
there's going to be many problem-solution type deals dude good luck.
is there anyone out there that knows how to gain control out of range finders and iR x/y sensors(or x/y/z)? has anyone ever attempted to make anything similar?
Accelerometer hand in hand with an ultrasonic detector.
You program the chip to measure the pitch/angle of the car; if the car's angle is too steep you tell it to disregard the ultrasonic detector because it would ether be measuring the ground or it would be measuring the distance in the sky.
The ultrasonic detector can also help determine the kind of terrain there is ... say there's flat terrain which would allow the whole car to run faster than normal. BUT what if the ultrasound detector finds obstacles... well then the accelerometer will have to do double duty to detect if it hits a wall/goes over a bump it will have to move out of the way or slow down even further.