06/09/2017 BBC Business Live

This is Business Live from BBC News with Ben Thompson and Sally Bundock.

US law-makers will vote to allow tech giants and car makers to test

thousands more autonomous vehicles, but they'll have to meet

Live from London, that's our top story on Wednesday, 6th September.

With a fatal crash involving Tesla's autonomous car last year,

we ask an expert if this tech future means safer driving or disaster

Nissan unveils its sexier, souped-up all electric car,

but will it be able to overtake its high-tech more popular rivals?

And we'll be getting the inside track on a labour

of love - and furry bears - we speak to the boss of toy firm

As Ryanair changes its rules on check-in baggage, we want to know

your stories on holiday hell. Ryanair says it will make cheaper to

put luggage in their hold. August Bank Holiday weekend at Luton

Airport, I will say no more! Billions are being invested

in the future of autonomous cars, so the stakes are high particularly

when it come to the rules Later today lawmakers in the US

will vote on a bill that would allow the likes of Ford,

Google and Uber to test thousands more self-driving

vehicles on the roads. The "Self-Drive Act" would give

car-makers and tech giants certain exemptions from federal rules that

currently govern everything from steering wheels to seat-belts

IF they can prove their tech That would allow thousands more test

vehicles on the roads. In California, the number of global

firms licensed to test cars has doubled to 27 now. That's over the

past year. As you can see it includes the big names the likes of

scapd ford, VW, GM. A test driver became the first

person to die in a self driving car accident when sensors failed to

detect a truck on a highway. The new Bill will force manufacturers to

beef up safety data, defences against hacking and publish policies

about what data they will collect. And the stakes are high. Consultants

Bane predict the industry could be worth $26 billion by 2025.

Anna-Marie Baysden is head of Autos at BMI research.

I wonder if you can let us know how significant this is. We know that

they're testing already, but they're testing on fake tracks, test tracks,

not in the real world. And the tests they do in the real world are

limited. Opening it up like this would make a big difference,

wouldn't it? Absolutely. The volumes that we're talking about as well,

25,000 cars per manufacturer and we saw the number of manufacturers

mentioned there, it means a lot more autonomous cars on the road and I

think at the moment we have only got the likes of Tesla and Volvo. What

do we expect the real world testing will flag up? What differences will

they see in the real world that they can't replicate on a test track? It

will be the behaviour of other drivers on the road. Human drivers

are more unpredictable than the conditions you can create in a test

environment. So it's just gathering as much data as possible on how

different situations might play out and how the car should react and how

human drivers react. And that's one of the biggest sticking points, it

is the mismatch between some human drivers and some autonomous drivers.

If the companies had their way we would be in autonomous cars because

they can predict better what the response would be? It is definitely

the riskiest period when you have got the mix of traditional cars and

autonomous cars because the cars can be programmed in a certain way and a

lot will be similar, but when you've got human drivers as well, you're

adding unpredictable behaviour into the mix as well. It's a big market

as well. Sally touching on the numbers there. So all of the big car

makers vying for a slice of the market. Are they working together?

Are they doing this independently? It strikes me that it is one of the

industries where we'd like to think everybody is working together

sharing their information, it is probably not like that, is it? Well,

it is a funny one. You have got newcomers to the ought owe space

like Google and Apple to a certain extent. So we have got these tech

companies coming in and in the early stages there has to be

collaboration. There is a lot of technology that traditional ought

owe makers aren't used to and tech companies aren't used the ought owe

sector so there does have to be collaboration, and we will reach a

point where they are in competition because you have got Google having a

car out there and Apple maybe. A lot of new start-ups as well that we

haven't heard of before coming into the market. So it will get very

competitive quickly. Yeah, one we will be talking about a lot, I'm

sure. Thank you very much. It is a fascinating subject.

Nissan has released details of its revamped electric car -

The base model of the new Nissan Leaf will now have a longer range,

able to travel 240-kilometres on a single charge.

The firm's chief executive says the car will no

longer be a niche model and will become a major part

The troubled PR firm Bell Pottinger has confirmed it

has hired accountancy firm BDO with reports suggesting

Meanwhile, HSBC has become the latest high-profile firm

to sever ties with the PR firm following a controversial

The Archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby, says Britain's

economic model is broken, as the gap between the richest

He says that Britain stands at a watershed and must make

"fundamental choices" about the direction of the economy.

More strong economic news from Australia today -

it's recorded a strong pick-up in growth in the last three months.

It's now more than 26 years since Australia

Many of you are probably going, "What does that feel like?"

It's the wonder from down under, isn't it? It feels good for

Australians. It doesn't mean that they don't keep worrying about it.

No one expected the growth. The last quarter's growth wasn't as strong.

It is mostly down to domestic spending on food and clothing,

increasing, whilst saving rates have declined. So consumers basically

deciding to splurge a little if they can't save. There are concerns about

the falling commodity prices. Something we talk a lot about on

this programme. Australia still depends on its iron ore and coal

exports. The prices have taken a hit in recent times. Despite that 26

year record, the outlook not always entirely sunny here in Australia, I

am afraid. Hywel, thank you very much indeed.

The Australian market was down despite the fact that the economic

news was better than expected. You can see behind me, that's the Dow

Jones the night before down 1% on Wall Street. That set the tone for

Asia. Basically the markets really struggling still with the lack of

clear next steps with regards to North Korea as what may happen as

far as that's concerned. Let's look at Europe quickly. Again, shares all

falling. We have got the European Central Bank meeting tomorrow. We

have got a Fed gathering the week after. So eyes back on Central Bank

action. We will talk about all that in more detail. Here is

SamirA A report is likely to show the trade

deficit will widen in July and that's from $43.6 billion in June.

Now, the trade deficit refers to the gap between US imports and exports

of goods and services. President Trump vowed to wipe out America's

trade deficit altogether. The Federal Reserve will issue the beige

book. It is the latest report to arrive from business contacts around

the country on the health of the US economy. Now, America's Central Bank

is expected to hold rates steady at its next meeting in two weeks' time,

but it may announce that it will start reducing it's $4.5 trillion

balance sheet. Joining us is Simon Derrick,

Chief Markets Strategist, Good morning. Nice to see you. Let's

pick up on Sally's favourite topic. Central Bank action. There is not a

day that goes by, that we don't talk about it, but another big week. The

big story will be about the European Central Bank. They're peating

tomorrow. The question is are they going to further reduce their asset

purchases, quantitative easing? The market spends a lot of time

obsessing about this. It has fed into strength into the euro. The

European Central Bank doesn't like currency strength. The question is

when we hear the head of the bank tomorrow speaking is he going to

stay we are becoming concerned about this? That's what the market will

focus on. We are not going to get a taper tantrum, are we? It's

possible. We go back to what happened in 2013 and the market

didn't like this. It is a big programme. My guess is they will

play it as carefully because they don't want the euro at 120 or 130

and perishing. A story that dropped on the wires from Reuters. Chinese

airlines likely to buy more than #,000 planes over the next 20 years

and this is interesting because it is from Boeing. They say they could,

it is not confirmed at this point, but worth $1.1 trillion. A huge

order if it goes ahead, but I'm interested in this given everything

we've heard about President Trump and firms and countries that deal

with China and North Korea and all that connection? There is lots of

unanswered questions about that report. Are they buying them from

the US? The report is from Boeing and not from China and it is over 20

years. But nevertheless it says two things to me. The first is clearly

they're trying to make sure that the relationship on trade with the US is

as good as it possibly can be. So maybe trying to muddy the waters

somewhat as we have the trade disputes making place. The second

thing I'd say is maybe they see it as an opportunity for China to

become one of the major carriers in the world. I mean, there is this

question mark about how some of the gulf carriers at the moment given

their hubs in a politically volatile region, whether they can remain as

those carriers, maybe China sees this as an opportunity as well.

Another story we will follow. Simonks thank you. I know you will

come back and talk us through some stories in the newspapers later.

We have got an interesting story coming up. A tale of setting up one

business and it involves some beans and toast to get through the worst

times, but it is a multi-million pound business. You're with Business

Live from BBC News. It's a fishy tale now! Sorry. It's

going downhill. A sharp downturn in the UK fishing

industry has meant tough times for many coastal communities that

relied on it for jobs and income. Many blame EU quotas on fishing

and those employed in the fishing industry voted overwhelming

to leave the EU. So how are they preparing

for life outside the EU? Sean Farrington is in

Grimsby to find out. Grimsby fish market today. They have

just managed to sell, they have got 50 tonnes of cod and haddock here

this morning. A lot of it is imported because that's what we

prefer to eat in the UK. We import ?1 billion plus of fish every year

for our own consumption. What we export is what we catch and that

will be big question marks for the Brexit negotiations as they go

forward. At minute catch about 400,000 tonnes of fish around the

UK. Not stuff like this that's coming in from Iceland. Richard is

from Hull University. Richard, when it comes to Brexit, obviously we're

importing lots. What's the key thing for the fishing industry in the UK?

I think we all know it's important to get access to markets. It's

important for the fishing industry to get a fair share of quotas, but

it is important not to lose sight of the bigger picture. Most fish stocks

are over-fished or at risk and we are looking at threats from climate

change and ocean acidification and it is really important that we don't

forget that we need to protect and make sure that fish, fishing is

sustainable for the future. Richard, thank you very much. It will have a

big effect on the industry. There are 12,000 odd fishermen in the UK

at the moment. Be careful, they have got toe collect the fish and put

them in the right place. Back in the mid-90s, there was 20,000. At one

point Grimsby and all the ports around here were known as the

world's biggest fishing port. That's changed a lot. So how towns recover

like this for Brexit will be important.

It was a hair net yesterday and it is the trilby today. The beard net.

Hard hat? Hard hat is fine. I can't pull off a trilby or hair net. I

think we need a Twitter arty. Ben's best headwear shots! There is lots

of stories on the Business Live page. Take a look when you have

time. You're watching Business

Live - our top story: A new low in the US will be grappled

with later which means driverless cars could be tested on the open

road. Lots of issues regarding safety coming to the fore. -- a new

law in the US. So far, there have the tests on test

tracks, not in the real world, so big difference.

A quick look at how markets are faring....

Continuing nervousness about events in North Korea. Until we see any

real geopolitical response, the concern continues but markets are

not overly concerned. Buy we have an extra special guest. I've been

replaced! Building a business from the ground up can be a daunting

prospect, particularly if you are entering a crowded market. Soft toys

accounted for more than $1 billion of cells in the US last year. -- of

sales in the US. Charlie Bear is a firm founded

here in the UK by a wife and husband team in 2006 -

who wanted to try and make high The couple sold their house and car

to get the business off the ground - but a decade later it's turning over

more than $11m. Charlotte Morris is

the co-founder of Charlie Bears. Nice to see you. We've brought some

of your beautiful bears in, and they are beautiful. We have had a play

and a squeeze, and apparently they don't, part, which is the point.

They are beautiful and robust. -- they don't come apart. How did this

start? It has been a passion since I was a little girl. I was gifted a

teddy bear and I was enchanted by. When I met my husband, he was very

supportive and was lovely and allowed us to sell everything that

we own so that I could follow my dream and start a bear company. You

met your husband through the Bears? Yes. In a shop? Yes. You started a

business, went to trade fairs, but it was a TV parents that made things

kick off? We were approached by a shopping channel, and things boomed

and escalated from there. There are a lot of collectors out there, like

me, and they love the fact that we have affordable, collectable bears

for the market. It is the fact that it is middle of the range, I think

you won't mind me saying, they are not top end bears, they are middle

of the market, so they cost tens of pounds, not hundreds. And that is

what makes us unique compared to everyone else. It is a gap in the

market that I noticed, and it was something I wanted to get out there

for collectors. You want to encourage the next generation but

also give the ones who are still around any excuse to buy one,

because it's very addictive. The problem for you was when you hit the

airwaves and had hundreds of orders coming in, you could not get the

bears out soon enough, because they are made in a very specific way by

our small factory in Thailand, and they could not meet the demand. We

couldn't, and it was scary, very daunting. We had a 62- week waiting

list. 62 weeks? ! We signed up to grab Government -- to a Government

programme, and they helped us find additional manufacturing, helped us

plan everything out so that we could nail everything down and keep

everything solid. I absolutely did not want to compromise. We could

have gone to China and mass produced, but it was something I

didn't want to do. We wanted to stay true to what we started doing. How

does it feel to have such a waiting list? It is a badge of honour that

people will wait that long, but equally, as a business, you want to

be selling more. You don't want people waiting that long, you want

them buying multiple bears in that time. Absolutely. It was frustrating

but the collectors and for us as a company. We stayed true, continued

to use all the traditional bear making methods that we do. There is

something about a bear, you will wait for that extra special one.

When you talk about the way they are made, there is a factory in Thailand

- where else are they made? One in Sri Lanka and to in Thailand. All

the girls love what they are doing and you can see that in the end

product they make. Explain the thing about beans on toast for me. We

literally had to sell everything we own. In my first negotiation, I was

trying to negotiate with a landlord that we were renting from. We ate

baked beans on toast for six out of seven nights. We still do it on the

anniversary. But we have a glass of champagne with it. It is a good

staple diet, beans on toast. Thanks for joining us.

More now on Nissan's unveiling of its all-new electric as it chases

From Tokyo, here's Ruper Wingfield Hayes.

In Tokyo today, a huge production with lots

of pizzazz for what is a

Well, because in large part, this car, or

the previous generation of it, is the biggest selling electric

vehicle in the world, and because Nissan,

Tesla and other big car companies believe

that this or something like

it really is the future, and that in ten to 15 years,

most of us will be driving some sort of electric

We're now just going to check out some of the high-tech

features of this new Leaf, one of which is that it can park

OK, so now, it's going to go forward.

You can see I have no hands on the wheel.

It's certainly a better looking car than the previous

model, which was rather bug eyed and a lot of people thought was an

The main difference between this and the old generation

is the size of its battery pack, down here under the floor.

This one's got a 40 kWh pack, and that

means it should be able to go, according to Nissan, up to 400

kilometres, or 250 miles on one charge.

We'll see how that goes down. That was Rupert Wingfield Hayes in Tokyo

for us. Simon Derrick is with us from bank of New York. Were going to

talk about this story about Ryanair is reducing baggage check-in fees.

People know how in purine ditties -- how infuriating it is to have to pay

for bags. They are saying they will allow you to take more for the same

amount but they will not allow you to take to make bags on board. We

asked you for your check in stories. Matthew says: Working as a baggage

handler at Stansted, passengers are making their case is heavy. Yes,

passengers are taking too much on holiday. You heard it from Matthew -

reduce what you take with you. Steve said: The airline lost luggage on

the way to the US and then turned up with my equipment destroyed. Simon,

you must have many stories. In a Middle Eastern airport, they were

checking passports, the guy who was checking the passports looked at my

photograph, passed it around everyone else so that they could

laugh as well. That's a bad passport story! On a more serious note, the

Archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby, saying that the UK economy as

is is broken and change needs to happen. Your thoughts? My

disagreement would be, it's not just the UK economy, it's a developed

world thing and the inequality he is talking about is an overreliance on

interest rates rather than fiscal policy. If you own things in the

last 15 years, you did well, if you did not, you did not. The divide is

between the haves and have nots. Thank you for your company. We're

back tomorrow. Goodbye. Good morning. Today is probably

going to be the best day of the week in terms of weather. Plenty of dry

weather out there this morning. Chile with clear skies through the

night. As we