It seems to me that your son is experiencing sleepwalking episodes.
Sleepwalking usually includes, but is not limited to, walking.
The range of sleepwalking actions can range from a simple act of sitting up in bed, to getting up running around and screaming.

Does your son have amnesia about "the event" after waking?

Yes, he doesn't remember it at all. Can he be sleep walking with his eyes open? Also, although he doesn't reply to us verbaly when it's happening, he does seem to understand what we are saying and accept it. For example he would be running towards the steps and I would tell him "don't go downstairs, go this way" and he would turn and go the way I told him. All this could be happening while he was sleeping?

Sleepwalkers are usually unaware of their activity. Typically, the eyes are open with a glassy, staring appearance.
On questioning, responses are slow or absent.
Sleepwalking typically occurs in the first third of a sleep episode, an hour or two after sleep onset and may last five to 20 minutes.
There is a connection between slow wave sleep ( deep sleep) and sleepwalking. Children typically enter their deepest sleep within 15 minutes of sleep onset, and this first SWS (slow wave sleep) period lasts from 45-75 minutes. The length and depth of SWS, which is greater in young children, may be a factor in the increased frequency of sleepwalking in children.
Sleepwalkers are highly suggestible. Anything they hear or see may trigger another behavior (often something said by a person or even on a television will cause the sleepwalker to engage in the activity mentioned)
How old is your son?
Was he more restless sleeper when he was aged 4-5 years and more restless with more frequent awakenings during the first year of life?

I usually don't remember getting up but when I've reached my final destination I wake up. For instance, I my wake up in a panic with my hand on the doorknob and I slightly remember getting up in a panic, speeding to the door and starting to open before I wake up. Yet, I'm not fully awake when I do it. Its not like I don't remember any of it though. Am I sleep walking or is this something else? Normally on the nights I do it, I've had coffee the morning in which it happens.

My son is 6 and daughter is 5. They both sleepwalk. They will get up and walk, talk, climb, and open things with there eyes wide open. I never wake them when they are doing this, I just guide them back to bed. I take precations. I deadbolt the doors, and the basement door is blocked. I put knives up and what ever else could be a danger. I dont sleep to deep because I am afraid for the both of them. I to want to know if this will get better or worse with time.