diff --git a/controllers/object_controls.go b/controllers/object_controls.go
index 07114c39f..6906bf469 100644
--- a/controllers/object_controls.go
+++ b/controllers/object_controls.go
@@ -3659,7 +3659,7 @@ func ocpHasDriverToolkitImageStream(n *ClusterPolicyController) (bool, error) {
 	return true, nil
 }
 
-func (n ClusterPolicyController) cleanupAllDriverDaemonSets(ctx context.Context) error {
+func (n ClusterPolicyController) cleanupAllDriverDaemonSets(ctx context.Context, deleteOptions *client.DeleteOptions) error {
 	// Get all DaemonSets owned by ClusterPolicy
 	//
 	// (cdesiniotis) There is a limitation with the controller-runtime client where only a single field selector
@@ -3676,7 +3676,7 @@ func (n ClusterPolicyController) cleanupAllDriverDaemonSets(ctx context.Context)
 		// filter out DaemonSets which are not the NVIDIA driver/vgpu-manager
 		if strings.HasPrefix(ds.Name, commonDriverDaemonsetName) || strings.HasPrefix(ds.Name, commonVGPUManagerDaemonsetName) {
 			n.logger.Info("Deleting NVIDIA driver daemonset owned by ClusterPolicy", "Name", ds.Name)
-			err = n.client.Delete(ctx, &ds)
+			err = n.client.Delete(ctx, &ds, deleteOptions)
 			if err != nil {
 				return fmt.Errorf("error deleting NVIDIA driver daemonset: %w", err)
 			}
diff --git a/controllers/state_manager.go b/controllers/state_manager.go
index 9c1028ebc..7f086386d 100644
--- a/controllers/state_manager.go
+++ b/controllers/state_manager.go
@@ -952,8 +952,12 @@ func (n *ClusterPolicyController) step() (gpuv1.State, error) {
 		n.singleton.Spec.Driver.UseNvdiaDriverCRDType() {
 		n.logger.Info("NVIDIADriver CRD is enabled, cleaning up all NVIDIA driver daemonsets owned by ClusterPolicy")
 		n.idx++
-		// Cleanup all driver daemonsets owned by ClusterPolicy.
-		err := n.cleanupAllDriverDaemonSets(n.ctx)
+		// Cleanup all driver daemonsets owned by ClusterPolicy, but orphan the dependent pod objects.
+		// This way, switching to the new NVIDIADriver API does not cause a cluster-wide disruption.
+		// NVIDIA driver pods owned by ClusterPolicy daemonsets will remain running until the NVIDIADriver
+		// controller migrates these pods to new ones owned by NVIDIADriver daemonsets.
+		deletePropagationOrphan := metav1.DeletePropagationOrphan
+		err := n.cleanupAllDriverDaemonSets(n.ctx, &client.DeleteOptions{PropagationPolicy: &deletePropagationOrphan})
 		if err != nil {
 			return gpuv1.NotReady, fmt.Errorf("failed to cleanup all NVIDIA driver daemonsets owned by ClusterPolicy: %w", err)
 		}