What are the recent trends in aligning to half's of injection mold for precise parts?

Proper 'interlocking' feature design between core and cavity is how misalignment is prevented. It's not a recent trend though, I believe it's been standard practice for a long time.

Google "core cavity interlock" for detailed info.

actually there is a lot of things you can use for this matter
ex latch lock from hasco or any standard mold component

I hope this is helpful