You can set the timeout on the HTTP Client like this
int connectionTimeout=5000;
int socketTimeout=15000;
ApacheHttpClient.Factory clientFactory = new ApacheHttpClient.Factory(new HttpClientFactory(connectionTimeout, socketTimeout));
HttpCommandExecutor executor =
new HttpCommandExecutor(new HashMap<String, CommandInfo>(), new URL(seleniumServerUrl), clientFactory);
RemoteWebDriver driver = new RemoteWebDriver(executor, capabilities);