[yencabulator]

Modern speedometers are digital. A magnet or metal disk with cutouts rotating with the transmission produces pulses in a magnetic field sensor, the pulses are counted by a microchip. The data is sent to the dashboard over a packet-based computer network.

I for one find a "71" in large digits much easier to read than trying to figure out where between the lines a little needle is pointing. If the opposite were really true, we'd draw little pictures of gauges to communicate numbers.

[carlosjobim]

In cars I see more analog than segmented displays for the speedometer, but I'm sure you're right that the underlying technology can be digital. For MCs, I kind of agree with you that numbers are nicer.

[yencabulator]

My current car and one previous had digital speed displays. It's starting to happen, but the inertia is high.