Just to wrap this up, The project is done however my partner is still under the impression we're working on this so he can solve the worlds problems and become a millionaire with this but it was a school project and we're finished.
I never did get the programming quite right but because of my partners inability to think simple things through it made it quite difficult to get it working.
So I'm done with this, but still have an arduino and nary a thing to do with it 
I'd love some suggestions as to what to do with it preferably automotive related.