Can I safely disable WinHttpAutoProxySvc if I don't have a proxy?

I noticed that this service starts and stops regularly seeking for proxies, but in the service description says that it implements the HTTP client stack.

Is it used for something more than proxy autodiscover? Will I break something by disabling it?

This service starts and stops as needed so there shouldn't be any reason in particular to disable it.

That said, if you don't have a proxy, there's no need for it. There are no dependencies on this service by other services.

Do not disable this service in Win8/Server 2012 and newer. Disabling WinHttpAutoProxySvc can cause a cascade of stuck threads that depletes threadpools and eventually causes a server hang. I work at Microsoft and have debugged this issue many times.