For Immediate Release: October 13, 2025
Contact: PR@rideempower.com
Empower Changes Business Model in Response to Unlawful Denials of its Registration Applications
Washington, D.C. – In order to ensure that drivers can continue to use Empower’s services in the District to work for themselves and provide affordable access to transportation to D.C. area residents, Empower has changed its business model in the District, such that any ride activity in Washington, D.C. is no longer subject to any contract between Empower and any driver. Drivers whose use of Empower’s software and services is limited to the District no longer have any contract whatsoever with Empower and can use Empower’s software for free. Empower has also amended its contracts with drivers who are providing rides outside of the District to make clear that the contract no longer applies to any aspect of their use of Empower’s software and services in the District.
Empower CEO Joshua Sear shared that “Empower would much prefer to work with the District, as it has attempted to do for years, than make these changes to its business model. These changes hurt Empower financially and do not serve the interests of anyone, other than those looking to prevent Empower from growing. But Mayor Bowser and AG Schwalb have made clear they will stop at nothing to prevent drivers from working for themselves.”
Empower has attempted for years to work with the Bowser Administration, but they have forced Empower’s hand by continuing to attempt to enforce a stale cease-and-desist order premised entirely on illegal impoundments of driver vehicles, while at the same time illegally refusing to accept Empower’s registration applications. Empower intends to continue to pursue the registrations that DFHV is unlawfully denying to it. But for so long as DFHV persists in its illegal denials of Empower’s registration applications, Empower’s compliance with the Court’s injunction by not operating as a private vehicle for-hire company as defined by the District is the path forward that does the least harm to the thousands of drivers and tens of thousands of riders whose interests the Mayor has continued to disregard completely.
About Empower:
Empower is disrupting companies like Uber with an innovative model: drivers set their own rates, get 100% of the fare, and pay the company a subscription fee in exchange for software and support services that help them run their own businesses. With Empower, drivers are neither employees nor contractors; they’re customers. Under this model, drivers are making thousands of dollars more per month working for themselves than they make working for Uber, which only pays them about 50% of what riders pay. Because drivers get 100% of the fare, they are able to charge riders about 20% less, on average, than Uber charges and still make considerably more money. Booking through Empower, riders save money. They also have more choices: they can request a same-gender or favorite driver, which many riders indicate provides them with a greater sense of safety. To learn more about Empower visit www.driveempower.com.
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