NEW DELHI: A woman who alleges an Uber driver raped her in the Indian capital has sued the online taxi service in a US court, accusing it of failing to provide passenger safety.

In her lawsuit, the Indian woman accuses Uber of putting profits over safety, calling the US-based company the “modern day equivalent of electronic hitchhiking”.

In an email to AFP late Thursday, the American lawyer for the 25-year-old woman, who cannot be named for legal reasons, said Uber was being sued for unspecified damages for “physical and emotional harm”.

“Despite its self-proclaimed commitment to safety, opening the Uber app and setting the pick-up location has proven to be the modern day equivalent of electronic hitchhiking,” according to the lawsuit filed in a court in California.

“Buyer beware — we all know how those horror movies end,” the lawsuit said, accusing Uber of negligence.

The woman's lawyer, Douglas H. Wigdor, had earlier represented a hotel maid who accused former International Monetary Fund chief Dominique Strauss-Kahn of sexual assault in 2012. The San Francisco-based company did not comment on the lawsuit but said “our deepest sympathies remain with the victim of this horrific crime”.